At a time when some believe the Eagles are in a soft tank, their subtle effort to secure better round-by-round draft position in 2027 won’t include getting an extra draft pick or two for running back Saquon Barkley.
NFL Network reports that the Eagles won’t trade Barkley before the November 10 deadline.
It’s clear, unequivocal. The Eagles aren’t playing the “no plans” game, like the Raiders are with Maxx Crosby. The Eagles, based on the report, are moving forward with Barkley.
Of course, the emergence of the report nine days before the deadline could be an indication that the Eagles have realized there’s no offer forthcoming that would get them to accept taking a $26 million dead-money charge for Barkley in 2027.
The Eagles have already traded a veteran player, when Cam Jurgens was shipped to the Ravens in the aftermath of Lane Johnson’s surprise retirement. That doesn’t mean that the Eagles will have a Colts-style fire sale — especially as to any contracts that, if traded, would pour jet fuel on the cap situation next year.
Given the cap consequences, it would make much more sense to trade Barkley after June 1 of 2027. Like they did when trading receiver A.J. Brown after June 1 of 2026.
That move followed months of reports and claims and assertions that they wouldn’t be trading Brown. So, yes, it will make plenty of sense to pay attention to any and all chatter that may emerge in the offseason, leading up to a potential June 1 move if the Eagles believe that 2027 could shape up to be another soft-tank season, too.
Eagles Clips
As the Eagles plunged to their fifth straight loss, questions emerged regarding effort, or lack thereof.
Or, more fundamentally, whether the defensive line was even bothering to get into their stances.
To no surprise, then, effort was a theme of the week, specifically when reporters had a midweek chance to pose questions to coach Nick Sirianni.
Asked whether there was an issue with effort on Monday night against the Cowboys, and how the coaching staff gauges whether effort is an issue, Sirianni said this: “We grade every play based off of what they did, we grade every play based off of their assignment alignment and we grade every play off of effort. That’s not only in games, but that’s also at every practice, because if we were just grading it in games and not emphasizing it on every play in every practice, then we wouldn’t be doing our job.
“I did not see an effort issue on Monday night. Obviously, it was other things, which I’m sure you guys will ask me about. There were other things, but effort in no way, shape [or] form was an issue there.
“The plays -- now, do you bat 100% on effort? No, you don’t play a perfect football game. The plays, anytime there is an effort stand out in a positive way, we show it to the team and show what the standard is. Anytime there’s one that we feel like there was a loaf, we point that out and show that to the team. But I didn’t think that we had -- I didn’t look at the tape and say, ‘Hey, this was an effort issue, and this is why this play happened or that play happened.’ That’s how I graded the film.”
He later was asked whether players get grades on a weekly basis regarding topics like assignment, alignment, and effort.
“That would be crazy not to tell them what they’ve done and what they haven’t done,” Sirianni said. “We go over that with them. We watch the game with them, and everything is discussed with these guys. I guess I’m a little confused by the question. If we want them to get better, we’ve got to go over all the mistakes and everything with it.”
The reporters eventually attempted to address the confusion by explaining to Sirianni the perception that effort was an issue. So what does Sirianni think about the questions in that regard?
“I think in that situation, everyone’s going to look to find answers in a five-game losing streak,” Sirianni said. “Just because the result -- If we win that game, do they still question the effort? I don’t know. I can’t -- I’m not them. My job is to look at the daily process of it and the daily work and what objectively happened in that game and not react based off of the outcome. I get it. I would understand [that] everyone’s looking for answers. I don’t give you a lot of answers up here. I get that. I understand that. I do respect the job that you guys have to do, but I’m always going to probably keep it tight to the vest.
“But again, it’s not about the outcome. . . . We’re outcome-aware -- but it is about the process that goes [into] it, what happens Monday through Saturday. What happens Monday through Saturday is usually what happens in the game in my experience. That’s why you need great week of preparation, but I’m not letting the outcome dictate how I grade the film. I’m grading the film objectively based off of what I see on a weekly basis.”
What everyone sees is a team in a tailspin, with the most recent Super Bowl win fading deep into the rear-view mirror. They get their next chance to turn things around on Sunday night, when they face the 1-4-1 Commanders.
The Commanders had already ruled out defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw (knee). He missed practice all week.
Now they could be without another defensive tackle.
The Commanders added Daron Payne to the practice report on Friday with a foot injury that has him questionable to play. Payne was limited in Friday’s practice.
Tight end John Bates (shoulder), wide receiver Treylon Burks (foot) and defensive tackle Jer’Zhan Newton (pectoral) are also questionable. All three were limited in Friday’s practice.
The Commanders added wide receiver Luke McCaffrey (hip) to the injury report as a limited participant Friday, but he has no injury designation.
Quarterbacks Jayden Daniels (left elbow) and Marcus Mariota (knee) and wide receiver Stefon Diggs (hand/hamstring) are good to go as well.
The Eagles will have their top running back, but their top receiver will be out for Sunday night’s matchup against the Commanders.
Saquon Barkley (hamstring/back) has no game status and is set to play, according to Philadelphia’s injury report.
Barkley was limited on Friday after he did not participate on Wednesday and Thursday.
Having aggravated his hamstring against Dallas last week, Barkley was limited to just 62 yards on seven carries with a touchdown. He has 43 carries for 24 yards with a TD so far in 2026.
Smith (hamstring) will miss his second game in a row after he did not practice all week.
Receiver Dontayvion Wicks (ankle), linebacker Jihaad Campbell (hamstring/quad), receiver Britain Covey (knee), and cornerback Jonathan jones (hamstring) are also out for Week 8.
Cornerback Jakorian Bennett (knee) is questionable.
Eagles running back Saquon Barkley’s chances of playing against the Commanders on Sunday night are looking better on Friday.
Reporters at the open portion of Friday’s practice said that Barkley was dressed and participating in the team’s final workout of the week. Barkley did not participate in practice on Wednesday or Thursday.
Barkley missed two games with a hamstring injury, but returned to action against the Cowboys in Week 7. He only played 10 snaps with a back injury given as the reason for his limited workload and the back issue was also part of this week’s injury report.
The Eagles will release injury designations for the Commanders game later on Friday.
The NFL Players Association announced on Friday that Eagles safety Michael Carter has been named their Community MVP for Week 8.
Carter is being honored after he and his foundation hosted a Baby Shower on the Block event. The event welcomed 40 expectant and new mothers as well as their families for educational panels focused on mental health, prenatal care, maternal care and fatherhood. The attendees also received supplies to help care for their children.
“Being named the NFLPA Community MVP means everything to me,” Carter said. “Maternal health is not talked about enough, especially in communities where families are already navigating so much. Baby Shower on the Block was about meeting moms where they are — with real resources, real information and real support. This recognition belongs to every family who showed up and every partner who made it possible.”
The NFLPA will donate $10,000 to Carter’s foundation. He will also join the other weekly MVPs in being eligible for the Alan Page Award at the end of the season.
The NFL, for reasons still neither known nor apparent, opted not to flex the game between the 2-5 Eagles and 1-4-1 Commanders out of prime time, despite multiple other compelling Sunday afternoon games.
The league did, however, flex the officiating crew out of the Sunday night game.
Via Football Zebras, Alex Moore’s crew has been moved from Eagles-Commanders to Patriots-Dolphins. Shawn Hochuli’s crew will work the Sunday night game.
The report, citing unnamed officiating sources, says that the change is “more about optics rather than a disciplinary action.”
Whatever the precise reason, it seems to be a reaction to the various bad calls Moore’s crew made in the Week 7 game between the Packers and Lions, including two questionable roughing the passer calls on the Packers and a phantom illegal hit on a defenseless player by Lions linebacker Derrick Barnes.
The optics-driven reason is simple. Moving Moore’s crew out of prime time, and relegating them to a secondary 4:25 p.m. ET broadcast on CBS, avoids Mike Tirico and/or Cris Collinsworth mentioning the rough day the crew had in Detroit.
Typically, the various crews are assigned without regard to the broadcast footprint of a given game. In this specific case, it shows that the league would rather avoid further talk about the multiple mistakes that Moore’s crew made.
Even though Raiders minority owner Tom Brady did an effective job of highlighting those mistakes to an audience of 24.67 million on Sunday.
There once was a time when the mere thought of competing with the World Series made the NFL hide under the bed. Nowadays, regular-season football is the monster lurking under the World Series’ futon.
When ESPN announced the numbers for the Week 7 Cowboys-Eagles game (18.8 million), Fox had yet to disclose the viewership for Game 3 of the World Series between (Googles it) Tampa Bay and Milwaukee. And for good reason.
Via Manny Soloway of Awful Announcing, the baseball game averaged 8.33 million viewers. That made it the fourth-least-watched World Series game ever, behind only Game 3 in 2023, Game 4 in 2023, and Game 3 in 2020.
In the 1970s, the NFL moved Monday Night Football to Thursday, in order to avoid competing with the World Series. Prior to 2010, the NFL avoided playing on Sunday nights, in order to avoid competing with the World Series.
Now, baseball should endeavor to play World Series games when NFL games aren’t being played. Which means Tuesday night, Wednesday night, Friday night, and Saturday night.
Until the NFL starts playing on Tuesday night and Wednesday night. Which seems inevitable.
The Eagles remained without some key offensive players at practice on Thursday.
Running back Saquon Barkley missed practice for the second straight day. He returned from a hamstring injury last Monday night, but hurt his back and only played 10 snaps in the loss to the Cowboys.
Wide receivers DeVonta Smith (hamstring) and Dontayvion Wicks (ankle) did not play in that game and they have also been out of practice both days this week. Linebacker Jihaad Campbell (hamstring, back), wide receiver Britain Covey (knee), and cornerback Jonathan Jones (hamstring) missed practice as well.
Cornerback Michael Carter (abdomen), safety Marcus Epps (jaw, concussion evaluation), linebacker Jonathan Greenard (ankle), linebacker Jalyx Hunt (knee, ankle), defensive tackle Moro Ojomo (neck), and linebacker Nolan Smith (concussion) were limited participants. Linebacker Zack Baun (shoulder), cornerback Jakorian Bennett (knee), guard Landon Dickerson (pectoral), linebacker Arnold Ebiketie (shoulder), tight end Dallas Goedert (knee), center Drew Kendall (knee), linebacker Smael Mondon (knee), and guard Tyler Steen (shoulder) were full participants.
The bloom is off the ManningCast rose.
The critically-acclaimed alt cast continues to lose viewership. Via Andrew Marchand of The Athletic, the latest edition from the Week 7 game between the Cowboys and Eagles attracted only 517,000 viewers.
At one point, the Peyton & Eli show routinely racked up more than a million viewers per episode. Once ESPN beefed up its primary broadcast with Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, however, the tide began to slowly turn.
Now, it’s unclear where the bottom will be.
Complicating the situation is the new Next Gen Stats broadcast that Disney has added to NFL Network. For Week 7, 499,000 tuned in. That’s more than the NFLN version attracted a week earlier, when the 469,000-viewer audience for Commanders-49ers significantly outpaced the ESPN2 McAfee alt cast, at 351,000. (The next McAfee alt cast will likely see a viewership decline in Utah.)
It’s ultimately no surprise. The ESPN alt casts do not bring in viewers who would otherwise not watch the game. It simply pulls viewers away from the primary broadcast.
Most people want to just watch the game. Once the guests arrive for the ManningCast, it becomes a podcast with a football game playing in the background.
Given the ongoing trend, the ESPN2 alt casts don’t feel sustainable. Whatever they cost, it’s an expense without any real added revenue.
The best result could be to move the Next Gen Stats version to the bigger platform of ESPN2 — and then to lure Peyton (and possibly Eli) into the primary booth with Buck.
Surely, ESPN already has a post-Aikman plan in its back pocket. While some think it will result in the hiring of Greg Olsen, a merger of the ManningCast with the main broadcast could be the best way forward, for everyone.
